Chicago Semester

What is Practicum Group?

Posted by Rebecca Burwell in CS Seminars in Internships in Practicum Group | Feb 21, 2011

“What is this, um practicum group thing?”  This is not an uncommon question (usually accompanied by blank stares) from general students when we first introduce the Practicum Group (PG) course each semester at orientation.  In actuality, PG is important to what we do here at Chicago Semester, which at its core is an experiential program that encompasses all levels of a student’s experience.  An experiential pedagogy is not the simple, field trip-type stuff that people mistake it for; its praxis is rooted in learner-centered principles that engage all of students’ learning modes (intellectual, emotional, social) and takes concrete experience and supports those experiences through reflection, conceptualization/critical analysis, synthesis, and active experimentation[1].  In a nutshell, we are fellow travelers with students, accompanying them through the process of experiencing, observing, and unpacking ALL of their encounters while they are in Chicago.

So, what does that mean that students do each week in PG?  As part of the credit they receive for their internship, students meet in PG once a week for an hour and half in small groups of 7-8.  However, this is not your traditional class – there are no lectures or exams – but rather there is student-led discussion and participatory group work that helps students dissect the multiple layers and meanings of their experiences at Chicago Semester.  Though it might not involve the traditional “work” of some college courses, it can be more intimidating for students because we challenge them to be the main architects of what they want to learn during the semester.  We ask students to use their own stories as a starting point for developing learning goals and to be active in leading small group discussions.  This personalized approach to learning forms the basis for obtaining future knowledge and further personal development.

For the first few weeks in PG, we spend time building community with one another – sharing personal narratives, talking about our interests, why students came to the program, and where they think they might be heading.  Then, we help students sort through their internship, providing feedback and support as they draw up their learning goals in their Internship Learning Contracts.  In group meetings we discuss any struggles/excitements/frustrations they might have related to their internships.  Depending on what students are observing, we examine the institutional cultures related to their internship sites, develop methods for evaluating their work there, and consider the students’ values related to the world of work.  We help them process these encounters and see what they mean for each student.

We also help students to examine the context of this experience – that great big laboratory we call the city of Chicago – where their internships and seminars are situated.  We can’t ignore how the environment of the city impacts their work and their living arrangements, and so as we move through the semester, we discuss the realities of urban life and its influences on their everyday encounters, from how students’ live, eat, work, and commute to how they socialize and build relationships with their co-workers and neighbors.  Many students, new to the city, are inundated with new sights, sounds, and smells, and it can be overwhelming for them at times.  PG is a space where we can help them sort through those things so they are equipped to handle all that they’ll stumble upon while they are in the CS program.  Our students are not unlike other migrants who for generations have sought the opportunities that Chicago has had to offer.  We ask students, though, to consider deeply who they will be while they are here, if they will model themselves after the explorers or consumers or collaborators who have passed through this great city.

As the semester continues on, we take students out into various neighborhoods in Chicago, meeting residents, hearing from pastors, and engaging with community leaders about issues affecting their neighborhoods.  Students might interview residents in Bronzeville about art and culture in the community or do volunteer work with the faith community of St. Sabina’s in Auburn Gresham or analyze the assets of a diverse immigrant community like Albany Park.  Students will reflect on the challenges and assets of urban communities which can give them a broader perspective on Chicago and help them to situate their work and living experience in a larger social context.

As the semester ends we sort through how this experience might impact their next steps, from the skills they’ve gleaned at their internships to the insight they’ve developed about themselves as individuals and community members.  What we hope is that when they are finished here, they feel that they have something meaningful to contribute to their communities – through paid work or other means –and that they can move confidently to the next point in their journeys, wherever they take them.